


Never to part

by Tehri



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Pointless fluff, Undying Lands, Undying Lands are basically the afterlife, reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 18:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tehri/pseuds/Tehri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She has waited for nigh on a thousand years for him to follow her across the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never to part

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aurasama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurasama/gifts).



Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she ran. Her breath came in harsh pants. Gone was the grace she had always worn as a protective cloak about herself as she ran like a wildwoman through the woods towards the shore, her skirts billowing and her golden hair flying in the wind. For so long, she had felt as though she had only gone through the motions of living. She had watched and smiled as she saw dear friends reunited with their loved ones, laughed as she listened to their stories, jested with them when she spoke. And still, it was only now when she ran ahead of them that she felt alive again. Alive for the first time in nigh on a thousand years.

The trees cleared, and she ran out on the open meadows that led to the shore. She stumbled on treacherous rocks, righted herself without a thought and continued on her way. She could hear others calling after her as they hurried through the woods, but she would not stop. The seagulls were crying overhead, and for once she felt no sorrow at their beckoning calls. They sounded joyful to her ears, joyful as they never had before.

A path led down from the meadow towards a lone pier of white stone. She stopped, standing like a statue atop the hill, and stared out towards the sea. There, not far off, a ship could be sighted, slowly making its way towards the pier.

“Please,” she whispered into the wind. “Please, whatever wrongs I have done in the past, let it be him. I have waited. I have been patient. I beg of you, let it be him…”

The calls behind her came closer, and she slowly started to walk down the hill. It felt like moving through water, as though something was straining against her movements. The ship had reached the pier. Elves leapt down onto the white stone with ropes to moor the ship. She was still some distance away. The gang-plank was brought out and set in place. And then she saw it.

Slowly moving across the deck, dressed in white and silver, with long silver hair falling over his shoulders. He looked tired, so very tired. Had he not rested on his journey? His eyes seemed glassy, lifeless.

He finally stepped onto the pier, and she cried out as she picked up speed and ran towards him. As soon as his eyes found her, it seemed that life returned to them. The next moment he had caught her in his arms, embraced her and held her tightly, whispering her name over and over as though it were a prayer.

“Galadriel,” Celeborn breathed reverently. “Galadriel, my dear heart, can it truly be you?”

And Galadriel laughed and clung to him, burying her face against her husband’s neck.

“It is,” she answered. “Of course it is, my love.” She closed her eyes and breathed in. It felt like a lifetime since she had last felt his scent, and she knew that there were tears streaming down her cheeks and soaking through the cloth covering his shoulder. A sob tore itself from her throat, and she dug her fingers into his back. “Do not leave me. Do not ever leave me again.”

“Never again,” he promised. She could hear on his voice that he was smiling. “We will never have to part again.”

With gentle movements, he eased back from her and touched her cheek, making her look up at him. There was some relief in her heart at the sight of tears on his cheeks, knowing that he had missed her as dearly as she had him.

“I am sorry I did not come sooner,” Celeborn said quietly. “It has been agony to not be by your side.”

“It was agony to leave you behind,” Galadriel replied. “But I knew you would come to me eventually. I only had to wait.” She took his hand and smiled at him, shining like the sun itself. “Now come, husband mine. There are many waiting to greet you.”

There were many waiting by the shore and watching as they walked from the pier. The golden Lady and the silver Lord of Lothlórien, walking hand in hand across the sand, the lord weary after his long journey and long years parted from his wife, and the lady with torn skirts and wild golden hair escaping from its braids to fly free in the wind after her wild run. And though they stopped to speak with those who waited for them, they had only eyes for each other, drinking in every detail that had not been there when she departed from the Golden Wood all those years ago.

 

That night they rested together in a secluded glade in the woods, naked under the stars as they clung to each other as they had done so often in the past. Their bodies were still damp with sweat after their lovemaking. Celeborn rested his head against Galadriel’s chest, listening to her heartbeat. She let her fingers trail through his silver-grey hair, distantly marvelling at the feel of it between her fingers, and hummed an age-old song under her breath. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her skin.

“How I have missed your voice,” he said softly. “For so very long, I thought I would never hear it again…”

“Words cannot express how glad I am to have you in my arms again.” Galadriel spoke silently, as though she didn’t wish to disturb the nightly silence in the glade. “Glad though I was to see so many other dear ones reunited, I always missed you.”

“We will never have to part again,” Celeborn answered, repeating his words from earlier that day. “Fortune smiled upon us both.”

“I wish it had done so sooner,” she sighed. “Though I suppose there was one last lesson I had to learn when I came here.”

“The Valar know you atoned a long time before you left Middle-Earth, my dear.” Celeborn pushed himself up on his elbows above her, his hair falling down like a curtain to hide her face from the world. “They would not be needlessly cruel to one who truly went beyond the call of duty.”

“I had no duty.” Galadriel smiled up at him and pressed her hand to his chest, laughing as he moved to lie on his back and allowed her to take the same position as he had before. “But it matters not. You are here, and as you say, we shall never have to part again in this world.”

She lowered her body to rest on his, feeling his arms wrap around her as she kissed him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her lips still brushing against his.

“What for?” he asked, giving her a warm smile.

“For not letting me endure the long slow ages alone.”

**Author's Note:**

> Pointless fluff prompted by the thought that Galadriel left first, and that it is not known exactly when Celeborn left Middle-Earth. Galadriel may have been waiting for a very long time for him, and has watched so many others be reunited with their loved ones, while her husband and companion throughout the ages has yet to follow her. I have a lot of feels about these two, and I had to pour some of them into a ficlet.


End file.
